Common Sense not so common

Ever looked around you and thought to yourself... "this is just sad"? I mean, we still struggle with things that by now (50 years of democracy) should be second to nature. Small things that shouldn't even bother us. still follow us like an evil shadow in the night.

10 years ago, while still in medical college, there I was listening to news and there comes this news item; James Watson (of the Watson and Creek DNA model) claims that black people are less intelligent than white people and the idea that “equal powers of reason” were shared across racial groups was a delusion. 

Naturally, just like any black person out there, I was aggrieved by those "careless" words. How could he say those pathetic words? Who does he think he is? Just because he stumbled upon the DNA molecule gives him the authority to determine who is more intelligent and who is not! Ashana naye! (leave him alone).

I had to take this discussion to my classmates. Here we were studying pharmacy, arguably one of the hardest courses, and there is this guy who thinks that we are not equally as intelligent as the whites.

I can assure you that the debate was fiery. Luckily, Watson was not around coz we’d lynch him before uttering a word in defense. We were so bitter with his claims that some of us were thinking of turning into assassins just to get rid of this racist old man. We started looking at great African achievers, what they have done for this society. (To be honest, it was hard coming up with names) But all in all we are not stupid! I remember coming up with a theory that he, Watson, only said that coz he was measuring our intelligence based on white set standards. My premise was that, whites could not survive in the real Jungle, as opposed to the concrete jungle. They couldn’t survive a week in the jungle yet our fore fathers did.

So what could possibly drive a Nobel Prize winner make these careless remarks? This is a person with so much high regard; this is a guy who runs one of America’s leading scientific research institutes, this is I guy I admired for his work. But again, this is a guy who has courted enough controversy in his days. 

But over the years, 10 years so far, I look at us(Kenyans) and sadly I tend to agree with him. I am not saying that we’re stupid, but just looking at how we conduct ourselves leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, there are things that do not really require one to be a rocket scientist to execute well. 

“Dyscommonsensia” (lack of Common Sense) is one thing that is really ailing us as a country. If Kenyans just used common sense, just a little bit, we wouldn’t be having the problems we are having. For example, it does not take a genius to dispose trash in the right place, crossing at a zebra crossing, waiting for a mat at the designated stage, driving in the right lane (sometimes I just shake my head at the cause of some traffic snarl ups). All these among others, contribute to the bigger problems that we are having. Be it the eyesore that is the garbage everywhere, the never ending traffic jams, some infectious diseases, unnecessary accidents...

We cannot blame the government for everything that is going, has gone wrong. We’ve only got ourselves to blame for not applying the most basic of what intelligence has to offer, common sense. We can’t litter all over town and expect to have a clean city. We cannot misuse water and expect flowing water all year round. We can’t overlap n expect the roads to be clear. 

I am longing for the day that every countryman will use common sense and trust me, even if we won’t be looked at as intelligent, we will live in a healthy and happy society.